A recent blog showing confusing sales techniques made me think of how many times we are victims of fraudulent business practices which we can’t seem to do anything about. I’l give you 2 examples where we are legally “taken for a ride:-(Auto Insurance is considered to be a “cash cow” by Insurance companies, here’s why:You purchase a new vehicle say for $25,000.00 and your insurance reflects a replacement value for the vehicle in your premium. Over the years the premium goes up slightly, and lets say after 10 years your premium is slightly more than the original premium. Then you have a wreck, but your 10 year old vehicle is now worth $1,000.00, so that’s the payout even though your insurance is the same price as it started for $25,000.00 coverage. Why does your premium never reflect the diminishing value of the vehicle?? Gotcha!

My property taxes are due at the end of the year as are most peoples’ and yes the taxes have gone up because they increased the valuation of the property. In normal times I can live with that BUT according to government figures property prices have fallen 22-1/2% !!! It appears the tax collectors DO NOT have to justify their property value increase, even when the property has been devalued. So fraudulent valuations on property taxes are their way of doing business? :(

Of course is us mere mortals ever tried to do these scams we’d be in jail and have a lien on our property.

There must be many examples where we are “taken for a ride” and legally robbed.It would be nice to know of other scams and fraud which members get caught in. So let us alert each other to these sort of things.

-- Roger-R, Republic of Texas. "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" - An eyeball to eyeball confrontation with a blind person is as complete waste of Time.

83 replies so far

I work for the government for 35 years and it was a full time job in the union still I had to pay UI which I was not able to collect one cent of.I am getting a pension that I paid in while I worked but as I turn 65 and sign in for my OAS pension the same amount of the OAS pension is taken off my pension that I paid in, more my wife will not qualify for an OAS because my revenue is too high by their account.

You retire and you still pay income tax for the people on welfare sitting on their ass, I know I have a brother in-law in perfect health on welfare having a laugh seeing me paying income tax still.If I get a prescription from my doctor I have to pay but my brother in-law get it free of charge.

I don’t sweat the small stuff. Life’s a bitch then you die, might as well try and laugh your way through it :) What I found more important in the past couple of days is that yes, woodchucks do chuck wood!

In 2004, I was looking to buy a Toyota Prius but they were hard to find. I found one in Florida while visiting relatives. It wouldn’t be off the boat for another 2 weeks, so I asked the salesman if he could ship it to Arkansas. He said that they weren’t set up for that but that it would be cheaper to fly one way and pick it up, anyway. I had to be in Atlanta that week, so my wife flew down and picked me up on the way back home. What the salesman neglected to tell me, and I found out later, is that if you drive a car off the lot in Florida, you must pay the Florida state taxes. And since I live in Arkansas, they demanded their taxes, as well. So I had no choice but to pay double taxes on the same car.

Hi Roger,We all get screwed by Insurance Companies, Taxes, and Heating Companies, especially fossil fuel companies, these you can expect. The ones that irk me are the guys that sold me a lawn tractor for $3,000 and issued a one year warranty. We took it back for the free oil change and blade sharpening in the spring before the year was up, to be told the warranty expired at the end of August last year. The tractor was purchased in June of the previous year approx 2 to 3 months warranty. We had to pay $150.00 to get the tractor back, If we hadn’t he would still have the tractor. Since then I spoiled at least 3 sales for him, more to come I hope. Then there is the $25.00 gift certificate my daughter gave me for Father’s day to buy lobster. The bill came to $22.50 and they wouldn’t give me the change. My protest was if the bill had come to $10.00 would he have kept the $15.00? He wouldn’t answer, but by then my voice had risen a few octaves. We won’t be doing business there any more either. I tell everyone I can.Jack

Woodywoodwrecker: I drove to Texas several years ago to buy a vehicle. Had a similar situation with the sales taxes. However, as soon as I had proof that I paid sales tax in my home state, I was able to send a copy of the receipt to Texas and I got reimbursed for the taxes I paid in Texas.

Well Roger, you have spoken as a true Texan. :) I think the “screws” tighten anytime there is government regulation that entails “mandatory” anything. Taxation and insurance are 2 examples of that. PS Woody- I’m thinking that any American who would pay voluntarily pay double sales tax for a foreign car has little room to complain about being screwed. (sorry- just my opinion..)

-- Homer : "Oh, and how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain."

What US manufacturer made a hybrid in 2004 when Woody bought his car? The only one i can think of is the ford escape and that got 1/2 the MPGs and was hardly comparable. Even on the escape, the transmission was made by Toyota and the batteries were made by Sanyo, two of the most expensive parts on the car.